Digital Commons Network^™

Jihad: Peaceful Applications For Society And The Individual, Norman C. Rothman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Stagnant Corruption In Bosnia-Herzegovina: Then, Now, And What Is To Come, Megan Uren

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Bosnia-Herzegovina, a country recently torn apart by ethnic violence in the 1990s, remains standing yet has struggled for the past two decades to materialize dynamic reform from political corruption and has failed to progress to a more stabilized society. Matters of ethnic divisions, political corruption, and economic underdevelopment all contribute to a deadlocked society vulnerable to further destabilization. The Dayton Peace Agreement produced an environment fit to maintain political corruption with elite entrenchment and governmental deadlock that continues to freeze the county in 1995 and inhibits true ethnic reconciliation. Economic insecurity and high unemployment rates add to grievances in a …

Pol 166 The American Political System, Helen Chang

Open Educational Resources

We will study the American political system using several different approaches. First, we will look at the founding of the United States and the principles and the documents that continue to be central to debates in American politics today. Then, we will analyze how these founding principles and documents were used by opposing parties and individuals to define and distribute power in the US. These struggles include the continuing conflicts to expand and guarantee individual freedoms and to address discrimination. Looking back through American history will help us frame contemporary discussions of American political life, from voting to elections. Finally, …

Policies Through Which Central Eurasian Nations Are Promoting Their Civilizational Experiences: An Exercise In 'Soft Power' And Global Image Making, Alicia Campi

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: To Kill A People: Genocide In The Twentieth Century, Caroline Bennett

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

State Capacity And Naval Buildup : The Sino-Japanese Divergence In The Late Nineteenth Century, Xinyi Shen

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

The East Asian modernization divergence in the late nineteenth century has long puzzled historians and social scientists. As Qing China, given its vast territory, large population and dominating influence spreading to neighboring countries, failed to modernize herself as its small island neighbor Japan did after the forced opening up by the West. One important divergence is their military capability, especially that of navy. The relatively higher capacity of the Imperial Japanese Navy has played a decisive role in its victory over the Beiyang Fleet in the 1894/95 First Sino-Japanese War. Following the defeat, Qing China was burdened with huge indemnity, …

Migration And Conflict, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations is ill-equipped to prevent, much less end, intrastate conflicts. Today’s conflicts and an explosive mix of other interrelated causes—including violence, famine, extreme poverty, climate-related disasters and political oppression—have led to a global migration and population-displacement crisis. This article examines the intersection of conflict and migration. It presents the data on migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and exposes the rise of extreme nationalist tendencies in the West—in particular, Europe, where several measures to stem the flow of refugees have been imposed. The article concludes with a warning about global poverty and marginalization—a prescription for violent conflict …

We Refugees, Again, Aaron Linas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dramatic shifts in climate have generated a new form of global displacement. These ‘climate migrants’ challenge the notion of state sovereignty by introducing a new paradigm for global responsibility. I seek to address this emerging demand of sovereignty by outlining the normative mechanisms of state institutions when encountering displaced persons. The extreme cases of disappearing island nations creates stateless population incompatible with standard liberal values of humanitarianism and border security. My claim is that current normative institutions and principles of assistance to migrating people are insufficient to manage the international crisis of climate change. To be able to aid migrants …

Oil Pollution On The High Seas: The Establishment Of An International Regime To Deal With Public International Law And Private Law Issues And The Role Of Non-State Actors In Their Resolution Prior To And At The 1969 International Legal Conference On Marine Pollution Damage (“Brussels Conference”), Milton Ottensoser

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On March 18, 1967, the Torrey Canyon, an oil tanker flying the flag of Liberia and carrying thirty million gallons of crude oil, smashed onto rocks off the coast of the United Kingdom. The oil spill metastasized into an environmental catastrophe, and this event became the first major environmental disaster of the electronic media age. As a direct result of the Torrey Canyon catastrophe, two treaties were signed in November 1969, at a conference in Brussels sponsored by the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), a United Nations Specialized Agency. The first treaty (the public law treaty) dealt with the right …

The United States Of Sol: Privatization As A Tool Of American Hegemony In The Solar System, Edward C. Henry

Graduate Masters Theses

American outer space exploration has been progressively privatized since the end of the Cold War. The choice of privatization was a strategic geopolitical decision in the interest of maintaining American hegemonic leadership on Earth and in the solar system. American Congressional legislation and presidential speeches in the nearly three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the “victory” of the American neoliberal form of capitalism, show support for the expansion of free-market principles into lower-Earth orbit and beyond. However, this is not a new trend. From the beginning of the American entry into the space race, the goal …

Radical Islamist English-Language Online Magazines: Research Guide, Strategic Insights, And Policy Response, Robert J. Bunker Dr., Pamela L. Bunnker

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

Radical Islamist online magazines first appeared in November 2003 with the publication of Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Jihad) in Arabic. This magazine discontinued publication in April 2005 after 29 issues, having been shut down by the Saudi security services. The magazine was produced by the Saudi branch of al-Qaeda that later evolved into al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). It called upon other al-Qaeda groups to develop and franchise their own magazines. Besides the plethora of radical Islamist online magazines in Arabic that has been produced since 2003—along with those in many other languages including Urdu, Russian, German, French, and …

Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future (Second Edition), Henry D. Sokolski

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

No abstract provided.

From Talons To Tweets: Analyzing The Influence Of Information And Communication Technology On Diplomacy, Austin Hayes

McNair Scholars Research

As countries embrace innovative technologies, thus increasing the speed of interstate communication, the overall nature of interactions between states is changing. Consequently, core diplomatic structures are shifting from the private realm to the public sphere. I argue that Information Communication Technology (ICT) is the major agent of this shift. Less distance between electorates and diplomatic agents due to ICT allows the public to more directly influence international diplomacy. By studying the impact of the telegraph, telephone, Internet, etc., this study examines ICT’s influence on diplomacy, contending that the trend toward an increased dependence on technology will mark another pivotal moment …

Fake News: Is Truth Really Under Attack?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Attacking fake news may be as fake as fake news. Or so suggests Western epistemology.

Future Melting Away: Water Stress As A Threat To Human Security In Bangladesh And The Role Of International Community, Farzana Afroz Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Bangladesh is considered as one of the frontline states in the global climate change; its policy agendas attempt to respond to the perceived security threats emanating from such changes. Water stress is one of the key problems the country is facing. Yet, links between glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Bangladesh’s climate, growing water stress, and its implications for human security have seldom been studied. Drawing on the concepts of climate change, human security and water stress, the thesis examines the causes of Bangladesh’s freshwater crisis and its contribution to the human insecurity. Here in this study, the influence of …

Psychological Warfare And The Kingdom Of Shame, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Psychological warfare is commonly referred to as a battle for hearts and minds. But inducing desired behavioral change is more complicated as the psychology of shame illustrates.

Lessons From The Past: Analyzing A Multipolar World And Shifting Transatlantic Relationships, Andrew Russo

Student Work

Rival ideologies and states, some new, some ancient, are emerging to create a multipolar world where regional spheres of influence arise out of the space abandoned by a weakening American ideology and state. New challenges have arisen during this latest shift in global power dynamics. States and the complex mechanisms and relationships that comprise them are now interacting as a power vacuum develops, seeking both standing and hegemony. How these interactions affect rising regional powers will have drastic consequences for future stability, peace, and progress and the current state of affairs, if history is to serve as a lesson, is …

Righting A Wrong: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, And The Espionage Act Prosecutions, David Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This is a story of excess and reparation. It is a chronicle of one President from the elite intellectual classes of the East, and another from a county seat in the heartland. Woodrow Wilson was the college president whose contribution to the art of government lay in the principle of expertise and efficiency. When he went to war, he turned the machinery of government into a comprehensive and highly effective instrument for victory. For Wilson, it followed that there could be little tolerance for those who impeded the success of American arms by their anti-war propaganda, draft resistance, or ideological …

A New Security Framework For Geoengineering, Elizabeth L. Chalecki, Lisa L. Ferrari

Political Science Faculty Publications

As the national security ramifications of climate change grow more pronounced, climate manipulation technologies, called geoengineering, will become more attractive as a method of staving off climate-related security emergencies. Geoengineering includes methods of carbon dioxide removal and/or solar radiation management and can theoretically achieve significant reductions in warming-related environmental changes, but they are scientifically untested. Geoengineering technologies have the potential to disrupt the global ecological status quo and mount a potentially coercive threat with implications as serious as those in wartime. Several of these technologies can be deployed from the global commons, but international law provides no more than indirect …

The Resource Curse: A Look Into The Implications Of An Abundance Of Natural Resources In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Erin Nichols

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper’s purpose was to look at why the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces consistent economic and political instability despite having an abundance of natural resources. The goal was to connect the economic instability and overall downfall of the Congolese government with the notion of the resource curse which focuses on the concept that countries who have an abundance of natural resources tend to have less economic growth and experience more conflict. This has been done by examining the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s past of colonization as well as its current issues such as conflicts within and near …

International Energy Geopolitics, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Overview of international energy geopolitical trends. Emphasizes the importance of the Persian Gulf, South China Sea, East China Sea, Russia, and the Arctic to U.S. and international economic and strategic developments. Stresses the continuing importance of fossil fuels in domestic and international energy consumption, the variety of energy sources being used by various global regions, the potential for military conflict over access to natural resources, and how emerging energy leaders will determine global energy, environmental, and international security developments.

Sticking To Their Guns: The Missing Rma For Cybersecurity, Lior Tabansky

Military Cyber Affairs

Why has cybered conflict disrupted the security of the most developed nations? A foreign adversary contemplating an attack on a developed nation's heartland certainly faces multiple state-run military-grade lines of defense on land, sea and air. A foreign adversary launching a direct cyber-attack on a non-military homeland target will meet none. Armed forces do not shield a society from cyber-attacks originated by foreign adversaries, no longer provide a buffer between the enemy and homeland, nor can they identify the attacker after an attack occurred.

Adversaries succeed in waging cybered conflict against the U.S. and its allies. Having repeatedly inflicted economic …

The Nuclear Ban Treaty: Advocates, Neutrals, And Opponents In The European Union, Alexis Dorner

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

No abstract provided.

Volume 1, Issue 2 (2017) Inaugural Issue

International Journal on Responsibility

Contents:

Introduction: Terry Beitzel, Types of Responsibility: Challenges and Opportunities

3 – 5 Howard Zehr, Restorative Justice and the Gandhian Tradition.

6 – 26 Richard E. Rubenstein, Responsibility for Peacemaking in the Context of Structural Violence.

27 – 64 Marc Pufong, Terror, Insecurity, State Responsibility and Challenges: Yesterday and Today?

65 – 77 Ron Kraybill, Responsibility, Community and Conflict Resolution in an Age of Polarization.

78 – 96 John Fairfield, Beyond non-violence to courtship.

97 – 98 Call for papers for forthcoming issues of the International Journal on Responsibility and instructions for authors.

Under Strain: A Robust Russian Foreign Posture Despite Limitations, Chiara Sutton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The geopolitical maneuverability held by the Russian Federation has been considered to be intrinsically connected to the prices of hydrocarbons, as roughly half of the government’s budget derives from hydrocarbon revenues. The year 2008, with oil prices flitting above $150 per barrel, was a particular boon for the Kremlin and its international significance- incidentally, 2008 also oversaw the Russo-Georgian war and the start of that now-frozen conflict. In the quite different current climate, as hydrocarbon prices stay remarkably collapsed for the third year, the Kremlin’s revenue problems are compounded by international sanctions and a level of international mistrust still rippling …

Women's Roles In Peacebuilding, Yu Nagahama

Senior Theses

How can we restore peace after conflicts? And how can we maintain it? The institution of successful peacebuilding has been a critical task for the international community since the end of the Cold War. The United Nations, the Member States, scholars, and civic organizations have been searching for the perfect solutions to establish sustainable peace. However, in many cases, conflict resolutions are fragile, and many of them end up with the recurrence of violence. According to the United Nations, countries that have experienced wars are more likely to have successive wars within a decade (United Nations 2017). In 2000, the …

America's 'Just Wars' In The 21st Century: Implications Of Just War Theory On The Middle East, Sara Bakhtiar

Senior Theses

This paper will examine the presence of just war theory in the rhetoric and actions of U.S. leaders and policymakers. I look at Afghanistan to highlight the United States' misuse of just war doctrine, which led to highly destructive consequences. I then look at Syria and how just war language is already being used to justify a potential intervention in the state. Last, I assess the United States' intervention in Yemen to argue that the U.S. does not intervene in the Middle East for strictly humanitarian purposes, but rather to pursue and advance its own interests like policies of regime …

Mineral Warfare: The Dark Side Of Technology And International Mediation, Priyanka Basnyat

Master's Theses

Conflict surrounding the extraction and trade of natural resources is not an uncommon phenomenon. Especially in the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has historically suffered from the negative impacts of the resource curse since their mineral wealth was first discovered by their Colonial administrators. The importance of Congo’s minerals has fluctuated over the years but has peaked during recent times, as their use in technological advancements are becoming more vital. The global demand for these mineral ores have sky rocketed and consequentially, the largely informal trade has benefitted certain rebel groups, playing a pivotal role in …

Nigerian Terror: The Rise Of Boko Haram, Kelly Moss

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria was the world’s deadliest terrorist group of 2014, second deadliest in 2015, and is one of the most perplexing terrorist groups to arise in the past 50 years. This study sought to identify how Boko Haram rose to power in Nigeria, and found the following factors to be explanatory: Nigeria’s weak state capacity stemming from colonialism and poor post-colonial governance, the politicization of religion, and Boko Haram’s relationship with other terrorist organizations such as Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda, and Daesh. This study further analyzed domestic and international responses to Boko Haram, up to present day, and …

International Post-Conflict Peacebuilding In Bosnia And Herzegovina And Cambodia, Mia Fisher

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The end of the Cold War brought many changes to the international system, including a rise in intrastate armed conflict and violence against civilians. Consequently, the international community performed increasingly complex and multidimensional peace support operations, and peacebuilding advanced onto the international agenda during the 1990s. Despite the increased attention on peacebuilding in recent decades, most operations have been relatively unsuccessful, and local and international actors continue to struggle with how to implement effective policies to rebuild post-conflict states. The purpose of this research paper is to examine how the international community contributes to post-conflict peacebuilding efforts and to better …